UK's Cameron woos voters with discount starter homes

LONDON, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Britain's prime minister David
Cameron pledged on Saturday to build 100,000 new homes and offer
them to younger first-time buyers at a 20 percent discount if
his party wins a national election in May.

The extension of the ruling Conservative's "Help to Buy"
scheme - meant to get people on the housing ladder - was
announced on the eve of the party's annual conference, the last
before the vote.

Property is a politically potent issue in a country facing a
housing shortage that has helped push prices nearly 10 percent
higher nationally in the past year, and much more in London.

The "Starter Homes" plan, would only cover houses built on
brownfield sites, land which has already set aside for
commercial purposes, in England, the Conservatives said in a
statement.

Buyers aged under 40 would get the discount on the market
value, made "possible because a Conservative government will
exempt them from taxes, reduce development costs and allow the
release of cheaper brownfield commercial land to build these
homes on," the party added.

The "Help to Buy" mortgage guarantee scheme was brought in
last year to help would-be buyers struggling to pay large
deposits. Some critics said it did nothing to spur new building.

A report by a former Bank of England policymaker published
in March said the country needed 1 million homes. Construction
of homes in England slumped after the 2007-2009 financial crisis
and is still struggling to recover. In 2013, 110,000 homes were
built, the second-lowest reading since records began in 1978 and
down from 177,000 in 2007.

Stewart Baseley, chairman of the Home Builders Federation,
said the house building industry welcomed the Conservative plan.

"Enabling more first time buyers to realise their ambition
of home ownership and introducing policies that allow more land
to come forward and increase house building would clearly be
positive," he said.

As deposits and property prices have risen, so too has the
age of those entering the housing market. The average age of a
first-time buyer is 30 nationally, up from 28 in 2009. It is 32
in London.
(Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Andrew Heavens)